


Traditions

by JMount74



Category: Thunderbirds
Genre: Fluff, Gen, prank
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2021-01-01
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:08:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,969
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28460670
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JMount74/pseuds/JMount74
Summary: It starts with Kayo and New Year’s Eve, brothers and pranks.It continues with the morning after.
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	1. New Year's Eve

**Author's Note:**

> So I saw a prompt. I changed it a bit. And voila:

The first time she celebrated New Year’s Eve was her first one on the Island. At 10 years old it was exciting to stay up all night with the boys and watch the party in Times Square. Tanusha had never seen anything like it. And as the clock struck midnight all four boys - not John, of course - swooped on her and suddenly she was the middle of a Tracy sandwich and receiving four kisses all at the same time. There had been a lot of giggling. 

The following year Tin anticipated it would be different. It was the first holiday back after being sent to school on the mainland but Christmas, if anything, had been noisier and more raucous. All the boys but Alan were now schooled on the mainland, so there were loud reunions all round. Eleven years old now, and still she was subjected to the sandwich - although this time Scott and Virgil kissed her hair while the youngest two kissed her cheeks. 

Twelve years old and everything was the same. Except one thing. Scott had gone straight to join the USAF, and although he’d had time at home for Christmas, he wasn’t there for New Year’s. So she only got a three-way sandwich that year. 

Thirteen and it was John’s turn to also be missing. NASA training didn’t stop for some celebrations. And at 19, Scott was now posted overseas and rarely made it home for set celebrations - his leave came as and when. 

From thirteen to sixteen, Tanusha turned from Tin-Tin to Tan to Kayo after accidentally knocking out Gordon while sparring. And she turned from a shy little girl to a confident strong woman. In those four years she hadn’t seen Scott at all, and only John once. 

Her sixteenth year was a seminal one. She went from school to university. Here she grew up even more. Studying Computer Forensics, Cybercrime and Computer Science, she found an ally in John when he was around. 

With Jeff half-way through setting up iR with Virgil’s help, the rest of the family (minus Scott and John as usual) had decided to descend on Grandma’s ranch in Kansas for New Year’s Eve. There was a huge town party and everyone was going, dressed up in their best. 

Too young to drink alcohol but giddy on the atmosphere and sheer happiness around them, Kayo was thoroughly enjoying herself. Until her seventeen-year-old brother sidled up to her, giving her a speculative eye. He was up to something. 

‘What do you want, Squidface?’ Her guard was up. Gordon shrugged. ‘Nothing. Can’t a brother just say hi to his favourite sis?’ She rolled her eyes. ‘I’m your only sister. And I’m not fooled for an instant.’ Gordon downed the rest of his soda before answering. 

‘Me and the guys,’ and here he pointed to three boys of equal age and maturity, ‘we was chatting.’ ‘And?’ ‘Nah, it’s stupid. Don’t worry about it,’ and he turned to walk away. 

He was playing her and she knew it. But Kayo couldn’t let that slide. ‘Just tell me!’ Gordon gave her his most innocent - and thus the most worrisome - smile. ‘They said you didn’t have the guts to go up to the men over there and kiss one on the lips and leave without saying anything.’ 

Kayo eyes narrowed. No Tracy backed down from a dare. She walked over with Gordon to his mates. ‘How much?’ The four stood and gaped at her. ‘If I’m going to do this I want a good enough reason.’ Gordon and his three friends put their heads together. ‘50 bucks says you don’t.’ Kayo nodded. ‘100 each and I’ll kiss him twice.’ Before any one else could say anything Gordon said ‘done,’ holding out his hand. 

She was so going to show them. 

Gordon watched Kayo as she headed to the large group of service men and women at the makeshift bar. He’d spent most of the last three months acclimatising to life in WASP while she’d started uni. He was amazed at the confidence she now had, and he watched admiringly as Kayo approached the crowd. 

She saw her target. Feeling a hand on his shoulder, the man looked up from where he was slouching. Kayo took the bottle out of his hand and put it on the bar, then, placing both hands around the man’s face, she pulled him into a kiss. And it wasn’t a peck on the cheek either. 

Gordon’s eyes could have fallen out of his head and his mouth hit the floor. His three friends looked identical. 

Without even looking over, her hands still on his face, she kissed him again. And for longer. She then handed him back his beer, he returned to slouching, and she headed back to Gordon and his friends. 

‘Pay up.’ They did. Gordon still wasn’t sure what had happened. Where had his little sister gone? The smirk on her face was priceless, and suddenly there was a flash. Blinking, Gordon was even more shocked to see John, old-fashioned camera in hand, grinning like the cat that got the cream. Which, in a sense, he had. Not many could best Gordon at a prank or a dare. 

Kayo counted out the money and divided it in half. $200 for a couple of kisses? Easy money off her brother and his friends. 

They watched in even more amazement as she walked back to the serviceman, grabbed him by the arm and begun tugging him over. Gordon frowned. This wasn’t part of the deal. As they came closer the count down started. Stopping just in front of them, Kayo threw her arms around the man’s neck and the hugged and kissed - again. 

But it wasn’t until the man turned around fully that Gordon saw who it was. He turned beetroot red as Scott received $200 off of Kayo, and the pair collapsed laughing at him as he tried to process what the hell was going on. John soon joined in as Scott simply roared with laughter. 

He’d been well and truly had. 

‘Happy New Year’ was about all the trio could splutter out.


	2. New Year's Eve - The Morning After

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Will Gordon get to the bottom of what happened last night?

His brain had been in overdrive for the rest of the night, which meant he didn’t get much sleep. And a sleep-deprived Squid was a scheming Squid. 

How did they know? Hell, Scott and John weren’t even supposed to be home! How did they know?? Eventually giving up on sleep, Gordon huffed a sigh and got up. 6:30am. Nuts. They’d only turned in just before three. Oh well. Time to get some payback. 

Scott was first on his list, mainly because he would be the first up. Military life really suited his oldest brother, it was the happiest Gordon had seen him for years. He’d not recognised Scott with his hair shorn so short. And Kayo had kept her hands on his face, further hiding his identity. 

Rooting around his cupboards, Gordon found the perfect thing. Just carefully place on the top of the door and...bingo! But it needed tender handling or it would probably burst all over him. He gingerly made his way across the corridor, pausing to listen at Scott’s door. No sounds so he was good to go. 

Ever so slowly Gordon opened the door, knowing that moving too fast would wake his ridiculously light sleeping brother. ‘Even a ninja couldn’t move this slowly,’ Gordon thought to himself. But upon reaching the bed he was disappointed to see it empty. Hmm. Empty and fully made. Where was his brother and had Scott even gone to bed? Questions for later. Right now, with Scott out of the picture, Gordon could set up his prize prank at his leisure which was a good thing. 

Dragging the desk chair over to the bathroom, Gordon climbed up and was just in the process of placing the - did he remember to say how delicate this prank was? - box on the top lip of the door when a small discrete cough sounded behind him. Gordon, self-preservation uppermost in his mind, froze. His super intelligent brain whisked through thousands of scenarios where he could salvage this and came up with: nada. 

‘Hey, Gordon. Everything alright with my bathroom door there?’   
‘Well, I’m glad you asked Scotty. I thought it looked a bit uneven, so I got my old box level out to check it.’ (Ooh, nice one! his brain supplied)   
‘That sure is kind of you, Gords. I’ll just let you carry on then.’ 

So saying, Scott darted through the open door and slammed it shut. Gordon had just enough time to screw his eyes up before the box exploded, showering him in blue glitter. All the glitter had ended up on his side of the door too. And they all knew that this glitter was so hard to remove. 

Climbing down off the chair, Gordon gave some thought as to what was going on. His brothers rarely caught on to his pranks - except John. He’d long ago given up on him - although Scott was pretty good at just making himself scarce when Gordon was thinking. Yet here he’d failed twice in a row? Something else was going on here and he was going to get to the bottom of it - after his power shower and late breakfast. 

New Year’s Day traditionally meant a long lie-in followed by a full cooked breakfast. And although both Scott and Gordon were up, neither appeared at the kitchen table until noon, the usual time. And as was also usual, John was cooking and Alan was helping. Also as usual, everyone was up. Dad and Virgil were due to land about 2pm, when they would all go to the diner. 

No-one mentioned how scrubbed pink Gordon looked, nor commented on the stray flecks of blue glitter his hair was shedding when he moved. Once everything was dished up and they were all seated around the table, Sally asked her grandchildren how their night had gone. No-one was silly enough to mention exactly what had transpired last night - Grandma definitely would not have approved - but they shared enough for her to know they had beaten Gordon at his own game. 

‘Speaking of which,’ said Scott, taking out his wallet and the $200 from last night. He deliberately counted out $50 and put it on the table. Then he counted out a further $25. ‘Oh yeah, I almost forgot!’ Kayo did exactly the same. Gordon was watching intently. Maybe he was going to get some answers. 

Scott picked up all the money and walked around to Alan, handing it over with a huge grin and a ruffle of his hair. ‘Well done, sprout. You earned this.’ There was a click and a flash. John and his old-fashioned camera striking again, because two pictures of a stunned Gordon in less than 24 hours was priceless! 

Eventually Gordon found his voice. ‘Allie? You sold me out?’ Alan scoffed. ‘You come home and it’s great to see you back and all, but then you just disappear with your friends! You ignored me all night. So when I heard you planning - which was not done quietly, by the way - I just wanted to be involved.’ 

Immediately Gordon was off his chair and hugging his only younger brother. He’d been so swept up in being back home and with friends he hadn’t seen in years that he hadn’t thought about Alan all night. 

Alan leaned into the hug. He’d missed everyone so much over the last four months. But as they broke apart Alan slid off his chair in preparation. ‘And telling Scott about this morning - that was just for fun.’ It took Gordon a moment to realise what had been said, and suddenly Alan took off with Gordon hot on his heels. 

Sally sighed contentedly. Some traditions never change.


End file.
